Songs of Our Lives

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Dania! Her new record, “Listless,” has been on regular rotation the last few months, but as it gets dark earlier, it’s going to be a mainstay on the stereo. We talk about the magic and mystery of late nights, Japanese snake gourds, and how it all came together on this record. Then we can’t stop talking about Tiesto covering the greatest song of all time,...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Randall Dunn! We recorded this episode in person at The Jewel Garden the morning after Charmaine Lee’s “Awaken the Dragon” tour rolled through Tulsa. We were well caffeinated for this episode (and Charmaine as in the room!) and had a blast talking about Kou Records, Randall’s new Slate & Ash instrument, John Carpenter, Beach Boys, Scott Walker, the T...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Dan Knishkowy (aka Adeline Hotel)! “Watch the Sunflowers” is Dan’s latest Adeline Hotel record, the second in an ongoing trilogy that began with last year’s “Whodunit.” We get into all of that, life moving forward, returning to music a decade later, and more! Then we chat about how visceral Mount Eerie can be, Arthur Russell’s lyrics, The Meters crushing...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Kalia Vandever! She’s got a fantastic new record, “Another View,” coming out next month Northern Spy. We talk about being drawn to the trombone, working with Mary Halvorson, repetition, dread, inspiration from Carmen Maria Machado's “In the Dream House,” unearthing narratives, and plenty more. Eventually we wind our way into sharing special music-related...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s David Garland! What a joy this episode was to record. David’s got a new record, “The Spark,” out this week and it’s been on regular rotation over here. We talk about his approach, making music at 70, and plenty more before diving into wondering how much music has been lost to time, the surprising romance of Alvin Curran, Connie Converse, Diane Cluck, Bee...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Chris Williams! His new album, “Odu: Vibration II,” is magic. It pulls listeners into a sonic world where unraveling becomes transcendent. After digging into it, we chat about Ornette Coleman’s all-time status, being left speechless by ganayva,James Brown’s depth of genius, Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang, MF Doom, The Stylistics, Tower of Power, and mo...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Ryan Sawyer! His new album, “For Those Who Wish to Sing Will Always Find a Song,” has a bit of a hold on me. It’s one of my favorite albums of 2025. After talking through some of the concepts and the framework behind it, we get into incredible Daniel Johnson lore, unexpecte,d meanings in Johnny Cash songs, Dylan in the tropics, Ornette Coleman, Funkadeli...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, Patrick Shiroishi is back! Patrick returns to the show nearly two years later with an incredible new album, “Forgetting is Violence,” out this week on American Dreams. I can’t get enough of the record, so after talking about various facets of it, we get into Upsilon Acrux, Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Quintet, Future, Dave Brubeck, My Chemical Romance, and more...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Weston Olencki! Over the last few years, Weston’s become one of my favorite musicians around, and their latest album, “Broadsides,” only cements that further. We get into the record’s interesting backstory and some specific moments before diving into the romance in Radigue’s work, Rahman Mammadli’s shredding, The Carter Family, Linkin Park, Asmaa Hamzaou...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s White Boy Scream! For episode #100, it had to be special, and recording this with Micaela in person at The Jewel Garden… well, it doesn’t get much better, does it? We talk about the next White Boy Scream record (that we have been working on all summer!), grief, growth, and so much more. Then we dive into all kinds of music from Maria Callas, Kelsey Lu, D...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Wilder Maker’s Gabriel Birnbaum! Wilder Maker have an incredible new record on the way, “The Streets Like Beds Still Warm.” It’s the first in a trilogy that tells a story of one night in the city from dusk to dawn. I love it. We talked about the story behind that before diving into a Bonnie Raitt, Deerhoof, Sandro Perri, Dougie Poole, Angel Olsen, and so...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Dorian Wood! She’s probably my favorite singer in the whole world. Her voice just stops me in my tracks every time. But she’s so much more than that, with so many wonderful, interesting projects across mediums, so it was a thrill to finally get on a chat together. After talking about her various projects, we get into the weeds with the Prince song everyo...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Marissa Nadler! It was such a blast to connect with another life, someone who I have known for over 20 years at this point. Her latest album, “New Radiations,” is my favorite thing she’s done yet, and considering what’s come before, that’s a testament to the work she’s put in. We get into all of that before talking about when a chorus doesn’t deliver on...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Stefan Christoff! We talk a lot about his project, Earth Sounds Now and their album “Convergence,” plus the activist work he’s doing around Palestinians and Gaza before getting into a lot of great tunes. We chat about Don Cherry’s all-time status, meeting Lhasa, hip-hop lyrics, Hector Lavoe, Coltrane, Nicolás Jaar, Chico Buarque, & more! Listen to al...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Charmaine Lee! In 2025, Charmaine is not fucking around. She’s got an incredible new record on the way in a couple months called “Tulpa.” She’s just started a new label, Kou, with her partner Randall Dunn that has a unique and innovative approach to running a label. Oh, and she’s about to go on a 3-month, 90 city tour of the US in which she will play in...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Glenn Donaldson! An episode 20 years in the making, this one was an absolute blast. Glenn’s band, The Reds, Pinks, and Purples has a new collection of songs out now on Fire Records called “The Past Is A Garden I Never Fed,” and it continues a long line of stellar releases. We get into his approach to songwriting, the beauty in names (if you need a band n...

New episodes return! On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Ethan Miller! Ethan’s got a new trio record on the way with Bill Orcutt and Steve Shelley (talk about a dream team), so I had to get his side about how that all came into being. Then we wade into the weeds yapping about a good wordless chorus, why the New York Dolls should have been on the Voyager gold record, King Crimson, Dylan, Fa...

**Never a bad time to revisit this gem of an episode from the great Ka Baird. New episodes are on the way - just needed a little break this summer! ** For this episode of Songs of Our Lives, I invite Ka Bard on the show. Their latest album, “Bearings: Soundtracks for the Bardos,” is something else. For all of the great music Ka’s made over the last 2+ decades, this one really stands out. After tha...

If you haven’t heard Robert’s new soundtrack for UNION - listen to it today! I’ve been digging into it a lot the last few weeks, so I wanted to revisit his excellent episode For this episode of Songs of Our Lives, I invite Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe on the show. After learning about how he first got into soundtracking and scoring work and I tell a story about the time we actually met in person, Rober...

**The weather is getting hotter, the ground is cracked and humming - a perfect time to revisit last year's episode with Andrew Weathers!** For this episode of Songs of Our Lives, I invite Andrew Weathers on the show. Few people have been involved in more of my favorite albums over the last 10+ years, so I was thrilled to chat with him. Andrew’s a real one. We talk about a lot of pop punk, what mad...

**It's a great time to revisit this Songs of Our Lives classic as Jeremiah and Marta Sofia Honer have a new album coming out on Friday - Different Rooms ** For this episode of Songs of Our Lives, I invite Jeremiah Chiu on the show. He’s been on quite a run of incredible records the last couple years, and on February 2nd, it continues with “The Closest Thing to Silence,” a collaboration between him...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Hayden Pedigo! I absolutely adore his new record, “I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away,” so it was great to talk to him about it before diving into a host of excellent picks. We talk about the crushing agelessness of Judee Sill, Wolf Eyes on the jukebox, how everyone has their Disney song, Andy Shauf’s under-the-radar opus, the Fahey of it all, Paul Simon,...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s The Modern Folk (aka J Moss)! I keep getting pulled back to his new album with the Modern Folk Electronic Ensemble, and that felt like a perfect excuse to get him on the show. Good times were had! We talk about starting off with Bob Dylan, Gillian Welch’s devastating abilities, drug-fueled frenzy from Fleetwood Mac, going to bat for The Eagles, Lil Uzi V...

**This episode was originally published on November 7, 2023, and really, any time is a good time to revisit this hang with Patrick! ** For this episode of Songs of Our Lives, I invite Patrick Shiroishi on the show. It would take a novel to list all the incredible things Patrick is doing these days, but notably he has new album out this week, “I was too young to hear silence” on American Dreams. He...

On this episode of Songs of Our Lives, it’s Joy Guidry! I’ve admired Joy’s work for years, so it was a real pleasure to finally connect one-on-one. She’s consistently pushed the boundaries of what the bassoon can do, and her latest album, Five Prayers , is a beautifully distilled expression of that evolving vision. We talked about pre-show rituals, Stevie Wonder as the GOAT, how incredible Cleo So...